ABSTRACT
Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe arrived in Constantinople on 5 April and was given a regal welcome by the Turks, whose turn it was to act as if a saviour had arrived. He came with his own political instructions to engineer a settlement, as well as to save Turkey by reforming him in the interest of the British Empire. The meat of la Cour's instructions, however, concerned the deployment of the fleet after Menshikov's mission failed and Russia made a military move which the French had to predict was likely to happen in order to justify their response to Rose's summons. A Turkish Grand Council of ministers, provincial governors and ulema met for the next two days to consider Menshikov's demands, the governance of the Christians and the possibility of war. Aristarchi personally saw most of the members on the 16th and deluded himself that Reshid's insinuations regarding Stratford meant that the Council would decide for Russian imperialism over British imperialism.
